Juneathon 2012 Day 10 - A reminder of what I should be doing

Juneathon 2012 Day 10 - A reminder of what I should be doing

Cycle - 15 miles, Time - 1hr 3min, Weather - pleasant

The plan was the normal one for this Juneathon - cycle to St Albans, wander round, have a cup of coffee, and then cycle back. Nothing too arduous as it’s just a way of gradually building back some base after having lost huge amounts of fitness. At the moment all I am doing is  pre-running training - getting to state where I think I can feel comfortable on the road. In the gym I am working on strength and on the bike I am doing something gently aerobic. Nothing is being pushed too hard instead it is a gradual accumulation of effort. After 10 days I am beginning to notice some improvement - nothing startling but enough to offer encouragement.

The concept of getting fit for running may be a strange because running is usually used as a way of getting fit for other sports but I for me it is important because I find no pleasure in running when all I can do is lumber. Base training is fine when you run slowly and it feels easy but slow running when it feels hard is something else, and something rather dispiriting. So I am building up to running again.

Today I had a reminder of what I should be doing and what I should be aiming for as St Albans felt particularly festive. In one part people were wandering around with race numbers on their T-shirts and medals around their necks, in another part there was a farmers market. It was all rather jolly. I had completely forgotten it was the day of the St Albans Half Marathon and it gave me a bit of a jolt - reminding me that I like the atmosphere of these races.  I must do some more and next year I will run this one.

P.S. the photo shows the appropriate thing to wear to a farmers market - a Marmite cycle top